COVID-19 Situational Statement and Policies- March 4 2020

Dear Partner,

Given the rapidly evolving situation regarding COVID-19, we are sharing this statement as at March 4, 2020, regarding Tamwood’s risk management steps and revised policies developed to address this situation.  We will continue to monitor the situation and provide regular updates,  both by email and online, until the situation has been resolved.

COVID-19 Temporary Cancelation, Program Change and Refund Policy

We have created a new temporary cancelation, program change and refund policy to remove any financial risk to students in making a Tamwood booking during this period of uncertainty.  We hope this policy will help your clients feel safe booking with Tamwood now, knowing they can cancel should the situation change such that they no longer feel comfortable travelling or if their travel becomes restricted by future travel bans.

See below the new policy.  We will continue to monitor the situation and we may extend the deadlines set out below if necessary.

Tamwood Language Centres Temporary Cancelation Policy:

No cancellation fees or penalties will be applied for any cancellations or program changes made to language programs booked to start in 2020, if the cancellation or changes are made before June 1, 2020. If the student elects to postpone their English language study program at Tamwood Language Centres to a date later in 2020, rather than cancel altogether, the student is entitled to take two additional weeks of language tuition at no additional cost when they attend for their rescheduled program. 

Tamwood Careers Temporary Cancelation Policy:

No cancellation fees or penalties will be applied for any cancellations or program changes made to programs booked to start in 2020, if cancellations or changes are made before June 1, 2020. If the student elects to postpone their Career program at Tamwood Careers to a later start date in 2020, rather than cancel altogether, the student is entitled to two free weeks of English language tuition at Tamwood Language Centres to be taken with their rescheduled Career program.

Tamwood Camps’ Temporary Cancellation Policy:

For new bookings received after March 4, 2020, there will be no cancellation fee or penalty fees applied for cancellations or program changes made before May 1, 2020.  Standard refund policy will apply to cancellations made after May 1.  This deadline may be extended as the situation evolves.

Changes or Cancellations due to Travel Bans

Tamwood has also opted to waive cancellation charges and defer students’ program start dates at no cost for any student that is unable to travel as a result of government imposed travel restrictions during this time period.

As this situation is evolving rapidly, we will continue to closely monitor developments in other markets and inform you should our above policy change. In the meantime, any special situations outside of what we have outlined above will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

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Risk and Management Steps

Tamwood has taken the appropriate risk management steps following Canada’s Public Health Agency’s recommendations regarding the Covid-19 virus.

Tamwood is reminding its staff and students of the actions they can take to help reduce the risk of infection or spreading infection to others.  Tamwood is communicating proper cleaning guidelines, has posted at all campuses health-related signage, and has made hand disinfectants available to all our students and staff across our campuses in Toronto, Vancouver and Whistler.

Our facilities are professionally cleaned on a daily basis with commercial grade products.  As well, we have worked with the cleaning companies to increase the frequency of cleaning such that all touch points are being more frequently to reduce the risk of the spread of germs.

Tamwood reminds its staff and students to:

·         stay home if you have a cold or flu-like symptoms, and if necessary, visit a doctor should symptoms persist prior to returning to the school;

·         wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer;

·         cough or sneeze into your sleeve or arm of you don’t have a tissue;

·         avoid touching your face with unwashed hands; and

·         remain out of the school for a period of 14 days prior to returning to the school, if faculty or staff have recently travelled to a high-risk country.

As the safety of our staff and students is very important to us, we will continue to monitor the situation and will provide more updates as necessary.

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Current Situation in Canada and the USA (as of March 4, 2020)

As can be seen from the table above, the current levels of cases in our destination countries are low and in Canada four people have already recovered fully and the remainder are experiencing only mild symptoms and are expected to recover fully.   

Worth noting is that only a handful of children under 18 have been infected worldwide and all have had only mild symptoms and have recovered or are expected to recover. 

We continue to monitor the situation closely and frequently and will continue to track updates. In the meantime, should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to speak to your Tamwood representative.

Please refer to the following Public Health & Government resources for more information on their policies and recommendations: 

·         Ontario Public Health

·         BC Public Health

·         Government of Canada

Our thoughts and hopes go out to all our affected partners around the world and we stand with you in this challenging period.

Tamwood International

Released: March 4, 2020

Tamwood International College Ltd.
889 W Pender St,
Vancouver, BC
V6C 3B2